


Lost Along the Way

by paperdollkisses



Category: NSYNC
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-29
Updated: 2014-01-29
Packaged: 2018-01-10 12:54:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1159965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paperdollkisses/pseuds/paperdollkisses
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lance needs to find out what is happening to him.</p>
<p>See end of story for translation notes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lost Along the Way

The waning moon was offering enough light to walk by but the rain pouring down on him was in his eyes, marring his vision. One misstep and he’d plunge over the side of the cliff and onto the rocks in the angry sea below. Something he wouldn’t mind in the least, Lance thought. Stopping to put his hands over his ears as a cacophony of protests sounded in his head. Shrill and deep voices assailed him causing him to fall to his knees on the rocky wet ground.

“STOP IT!” he screamed. His face turned up to the raining sky “STOP! IT! NOW!” he bent his head and took deep breaths as the noise faded slowly away. “I didn’t mean it.” He mumbled. “I didn’t.”

When all he could hear was the rain and the ocean crashing against the cliff he stood again, stumbling at first before gaining steady footing and continuing on his journey.

Chris was drying the last mug when he came in all wet wind, driving rain and looking like a bunch of wet rags on legs. One look at the eyes that met his under the soaked fringe of hair and he was pulling out a shot glass and his best Brandy. “JC. Bring dry towels and blankets now.” He pushed the full shot glass to the man before him and watched as his Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed, ready to pour the second one before the glass was back on the bar.

JC came out with a heap of towels and blankets. His eyes widened when he saw Lance and at a nod from Chris JC put the bundle down and went to stock the fire with logs. The sudden flare of flames did nothing to brighten the darkness that had entered the pub when Lance had opened the door. It wasn’t until the third shot had been swallowed that Lance looked up at Chris.

”Here, dry off with this. I’ll find you something warm to wear.” JC murmured to him.

Lance didn’t protest, just took the offered towel and started to run it over his hair. He’d barely even gotten it dry before JC was back. Another quick look at Chris and JC hesitantly reached out and took Lance by the elbow pulling him to the nearest room.

“Dry off and change. We’ll be waiting for you by the fire when you are ready.” JC smiled at him. “I’m JC.” He held a hand out. Not expecting the wet man to take it. Yet.

“Lance.” Was the curt reply.

“When you are ready, we are here for you Lance.” JC inclined his head. “I’ll make something for you to eat.” He turned and left the room, pulling the door shut softly behind him.

Chris looked up when JC came back into the room. A plate of cheese and meat was taking shape on the bar in front of him and a bowl of steaming soup in his hands to be added. “So, anything?”

“His name is Lance.” JC met his gaze. “He’s one.”

“I figured that by looking at him. He’s in a lot of pain.” He handed JC a mug for the hot cocoa the other man had started making.

“I’d say he took on too much too soon. Someone wasn’t very thorough in their teaching, or he lost count.”

Chris nodded and took the tray to the fire and settled in one of the oversized chair to wait for their guest.

Lance didn’t feel any better warm and dry. His face looking back at him from the mirror was pale and haggard. Eyes haunted. He just wanted to climb into the big bed with heavy covers and hope they crushed him in his sleep. Again the voices rose in his head and the room spun around him in crazy horizontal circles before sending an anguished cry out of him. He hit his knees once more, the scrapes from the rocks breaking open again. Chris barely caught him before he hit his head on the edge of the bed.

JC cursed. “NO. Leave him be. He’s helping YOU. Quiet.” He held Lances white face in his hands. “Chris.”

Chris nodded abruptly and transferred Lance’s weight to JC and left the room. JC murmured to him, rocking the unconscious man slowly back and forth while waiting. Chris returned with a large book covered in braded leather and sat cross legged in front of Lance and JC. Placing it on the floor he pulled a small glittery white square of cloth out of his pocket and opened it. Inside was a small pin. He laid both carefully on the floor and opened the book.

JC closed his eyes and started to hum softly into Lance’s ear, continuing to rock his body in small movements.

Chris began to speak. “Before us is a special vessel. Gather him his strength and his courage to guide. Inside the vessel are those who were lost, but found to be released to continue on their paths on their own. We are ones who offer shelter to the vessels and have been given the chore of release and repair. No one shall be turned away from this place that possesses the power to offer safe journey.” He picked the pin and pricked Lance’s finger with it, allowing a single drop of blood to land in the center of the shimmery fabric. “Gehen Sie an vom Körper, den Sie jetzt und besetzen, fortsetzen vorbei, auf schließlich zu sein, zu befreien.*”

He then placed the cloth on the book and waited. JC watched intently as well, continuing to hum absently. He felt Lance’s body relax in his arms before the blood disappeared. He nodded to Chris and carefully brushed the hair away from Lance’s eyes. His face looked more normal now, cheeks flushed and warm instead of white and cold.

Together they picked him up and tucked him into the big bed, wrapping the many warm blankets around him and taking turns watching him sleep. It took more than twenty four hours for him to wake and when he did he was both exhausted and ravenously hungry. He looked around the big room and saw JC sitting in the chair watching the flames in the fireplace.

“JC.” His voice was a rusty rasp of a thing. Just like he would have expected the way his throat felt.

JC turned his face toward him and smiled. “Welcome back. I’ll get you food and drink. Chris will want to see you too. He was hoping he would be here when you woke up.”

Lance nodded and watched as the door open and shut behind him, the muffled sounds of music and voices cut off as quickly as it started. It was then he noticed the sign above the door “I was Lost and now am Found.” That was an odd sentiment to be hanging over a door Lance thought. But he was distracted by the door opening and Chris walking in his face unreadable and shadowed in the firelight.

“Hello, I am Chris.” He held out a hand waiting to see if Lance took it. He did.

“Lance. Thank you for… taking me in.” he was unsure of what had happened but knew it had to do something with Chris and JC.

“Do you know what…” Chris paused. “Happened?” he finished.

Lance shook his head. “Not really, I just know I was walking and I needed to be here.” He looked around “Or at least it felt like I needed to be here.”

Chris pulled a chair up to the bed. “You have a gift. Some consider it to be a burden.” Chris watched him closely. “The fact that you don’t know answers a lot of my questions. But you need to listen to what I have to tell you with an open mind.”

JC came through the door and laid a tray over Lances lap. “Eat while you listen, it’ll give you strength.” Smiling at Chris. “I’ll be manning the bar.”

Chris nodded, watching Lance as he ate and drank before speaking. Lance ate like he was a starving man, barely tasting what he was swallowing. It was a few minutes before he looked at Chris apologetically.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s ok, please. Continue eating.”

And Lance did. Much slower this time though. Soon he was full and curious as to what Chris was going to tell him.

He put the tray to the side and swallowed the last of his tea. “OK, I’m ready to listen.”

Chris looked at him thoughtfully “Do you believe in life after death, or that your soul lives on after you die?”

Lance narrowed his eyes. “I’m not sure… do you mean like ghosts?”

Chris scratched his beard. “Not really. More like, your essence, the thing that makes you who you are and makes you more than just your body. The part or you that has to ‘go to the light’ to be in a better place, to move on…” Chris was running out of analogies. He’d never been really good at this part.

“I guess.” Lance shrugged.

“Well, ok… Basically we all have a soul. This soul usually has no problem passing to heaven or hell or whatever you believe in but invariably some of these souls get lost along the way.” Chris watched Lance nod. “So, over time these lost souls build up and other people called carriers collect them and bring them to places like this to help them pass on.”

“So you’re saying I’m a soul carrier and that’s how I ended up here. This place is the pub of lost souls.” He laughed.

“Well yeah… kind of. The souls don’t stay here. They just find their way out. Listen, do you remember the pain in your head. They may have sounded like voices?”

Lance looked a bit more serious at that comment. “Yeah, I thought I was… well I don’t know what I actually thought it was definitely loony bin time.”

Chris nodded and leaned forward. “Since you didn’t know what you were you hadn’t been taught how to lock them out. Some souls are so desperate to move on or have been lost for so long that they just grab onto any carrier they can find. If you don’t know what they’re doing they take over. I’m assuming you were having suicidal thoughts at times over the past days?”

“Yeah, but how did you…”

“They can overwhelm you. Their last thoughts can become yours for brief periods of time. A lot of lost souls are suicides and accidental deaths.” Chris looked down. “They don’t know they’re dead for a long time and that makes them even more lost than most.”

“So, why don’t I feel like that now? I mean I feel tired but I can think clearly and I’m not depressed.”

“I performed a ritual to allow the souls to move on and leave your body.”

“Leave my… wait, you’re serious about all this?” Lance leaned forward, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed.  
“Yes. JC and I think you should talk to a friend of ours who was a carrier but is now a teacher.” Chris watched him try and sort the thoughts out in his mind. “But until you decide I have a book for you to look through that will explain things a little better.” He pointed to a small crudely bound book on the table beside the bed. “You can stay here as long as you want free of charge.” He stood. Lance was looking at the book as if it was going to reach out and bite him. “There is truth in the words there. They will help.”

Lance looked up at him his mouth open as if to ask a question.

“Rest for a while and think about things.” Chris said. “Read the book Lance.” He turned and left the room.

Lance looked at the door and the sign that was hung above it for a long time before reaching for the book. 

\---

It was a few days before he felt strong enough to actually do anything besides walk from the bed to the chair by the fire and let Chris and JC wait on him. Of course then he felt guilty for making them take care of him and went out of his way to help out around the pub. He watched the patrons and they seemed to be normal.

“So, are all these people… you know, soul carriers?” he asked JC one day.

JC smiled at him, “No, not all. You can’t really tell a carrier unless you are a carrier or a teacher or gatekeeper. I’ve just learned what to look for, what Chris has taught me to look for.”

“You’re not… A keeper?” Lance looked at him curiously.

He shook his head. “It depends on who you ask. Chris thinks I’m a keeper.” JC gave Chris a fond look as he poured two cups of coffee. “But not a keeper like you mean.” He moved Lance away from listening ears. “They are specially chosen and taught. Not even Chris knows when he became one, who made him one or why. He just woke up with the memory of a dream and the knowledge to release souls.”

“And you don’t think that’s odd?”

“I knew Chris long before any of this happened. He has always been a spectacular person with a golden aura and an old soul.” JC smiled warmly “I think I’ve loved him forever.”

“You and Chris?” the mind boggled even more.

JC nodded. “When I die my soul will never be lost because I know where I want it to be, with him.”

Lance could see the love shining on JC and had to smile. He didn’t feel love for Chris, but he did trust him.

“So can you explain what happened to me?” he asked him.

“I think that should be explained by someone more qualified than myself. Chris has asked Justin by to look at you. To make sure you were really all right. He’s never released someone who couldn’t tell him if he was ok before.”

“Who’s Justin?”

“I am.” Lance felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see a tall man next to him. A blinding smile greeted him. “So, you look all right to me. A little skinny, a little tired but clean and healthy. How do you feel?” looking at Lance looking at him in disbelief “Yeah, I get that look a lot. Most people think since I’m younger than they are I can’t possibly teach them anything. But there they go… making stereotypes. And here you are… living what has to be the weirdest most uninformative few days in your entire existence.” Justin shook his head. “If you read the book you may have gleaned a little insight but it’s far deeper and more spiritual than words on a page. More rewarding than you could ever imagine once you can control it. Once you’re ready head on over to my place and I’ll show you the ropes and fill in the background on all the stuff that’s fogging your head. No pressure though. JC, show him the way when he’s ready all right?” Justin gave him another clap on the shoulder and didn’t even wait for JC’s response. Just raised a thumbs-up to Chris and headed out the door.

Lance looked at JC and raised an eyebrow.

JC just grinned and carried the tray over to the counter for a few more pints for the patrons.

Lance started clearing dirty dishes and walked to the back. Hands deep in hot soapy water he thought about what Chris had said, the lightening conversation with Justin… but most of all about the book. He shook his head. He just wasn’t up to it. Nope. Maybe one day. But for now he was content.

**Author's Note:**

> Written: 01/06/2008
> 
> *Authors Note: The phrase in German is from an online translator and is supposed to mean “Pass from the body you now occupy and continue on to be finally free.” And really, the only reason it’s there is because I love the idea of Chris speaking German. LOL.
> 
> The sign hung above the door in Lance’s bedroom was “I was Lost but now am Found”. I had it written 4 different ways into this story and none of them worked and the way I have it stuck in now is a bit awkward. But it’s there and not just a footnote now.


End file.
